Carmel police officers enforce speed, other laws on the U.S. 31 detour route

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CARMEL, Ind. (Apr. 9, 2014) — It’s been almost a week since a stretch of U.S. 31 was closed down for a major road construction project.

It means you’ll have to get used to taking the detour. Carmel police officers are out on the road with you to make sure you’re driving safely. On Wednesday, they took us along on one of their safety patrols.

Officer Lucas Gossett drove us up and down Keystone Parkway, which is where detours tell drivers to go. He was paying close attention to speeds, and to see if everyone was obeying the law. Most of the drivers we saw were, but Gossett pulled a woman over for going 52 mph in a 35 mph zone near Keystone Parkway and 96th Street. He went up to driver, made sure she knew the speed limit and issued a citation. The hope is that people won’t speed.

“The more patrol officers that you put in an area I think that sometimes you’ll see a decrease in some of that behavior which is what we’re striving for,” Gossett said.

It’s about education, because drivers may not be used to taking Keystone Parkway. However, it’s something they’ll need to get used to because U.S. 31 will be closed until Thanksgiving. Crews and contractors have torn up the stretch between Old Meridian Street and 136th Street to make it a limited access freeway. Signaled intersections will be replaced by interchanges and overpasses.

A Carmel resident said she’s already noticed a big increase in traffic on the detour route.

“Decidedly, we don’t take 31 because of our direction, but it’s certainly put a lot of pressure on Rangeline, Keystone, these cross streets here,” she told FOX59.

At the same time, it makes Jill Zimny want to drive more carefully.

“Absolutely, you have to, and there is an increase in the police patrolling making sure people aren’t speeding and taking care of those that end up broken down on the side of the road,” said Zimny.

Speeding could cost you close to $250, or almost $450 if it’s in a work zone. If you’re interested in finding out more about this road project, click here.